Editing Gentleman's Agreement (section)

==Reception and box-office==
''Gentleman's Agreement'' received a generally favorable reception from influential ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' critic [[Bosley Crowther]]. Crowther said that "every point about prejudice which Miss Hobson had to make in her book has been made with superior illustration and more graphic demonstration in the film, so that the sweep of her moral indignation is not only widened, but intensified thereby". However, Crowther also said that the movie shared the novel's failings in that "explorations are narrowly confined to the upper-class social and professional level to which he is immediately exposed". He also said the main character's shock at the extent of anti-Semitism was lacking in credibility: "It is, in a careful analysis, an extraordinarily naive role."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0DE7DE113AE233A25751C1A9679D946693D6CF |title=''Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947) |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 11, 1947}}</ref>

On review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an aggregate score of 82% based on 83 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "It occasionally fails to live up to its subject matter&nbsp;– and is perhaps an 'important' film more than a 'great' one&nbsp;– but the performances from Gregory Peck and Dorothy McGuire are superb."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gentlemen's Agreement |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gentlemans_agreement |access-date=August 13, 2023 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |publisher=[[Fandango Media]]}}</ref>

''The New York Herald Tribune'' described it as a "brilliant blow against racial and religious intolerance".<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/motionpictureher169unse|title=Motion Picture Herald|date=July 11, 1947|publisher=Quigley Publishing Co.|accessdate=July 11, 2021|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> ''The Daily Mirror'' assessed it as "the most explosive picture of the year" and "one of the most exciting and punch-laden pictures you've ever seen."<ref name="auto"/>

In addition to winning Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress ([[Celeste Holm]]), ''Gentleman's Agreement'' was one of Fox's highest-grossing movies of 1947. The political nature of the film, however, upset the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]], with [[Elia Kazan]], [[John Garfield]], and [[Anne Revere]] all being called to testify before the committee. Revere refused to testify and although Garfield appeared, he refused to "name names". Both were placed in the ''[[Red Channels]]'' of the [[Hollywood Blacklist]]. Garfield remained on the blacklist for a year, was called again to testify against his wife, and died of a heart attack at the age of 39 before his second hearing date.

In recognition for producing ''Gentleman's Agreement'', the Hollywood chapter of [[B'nai B'rith International]] honored Darryl Zanuck as its "Man of the Year" for 1948. On Sunday, December 12, a gala commemoration evening was held in downtown Los Angeles at the Biltmore Hotel before a crowd of over a thousand. Among the tributes to Zanuck, New Mexico Senator [[Clinton Presba Anderson|Clinton Anderson]] said, "He does not storm up and down the streets of a community, urging its citizens to do good. He does not fill the pages of books with words that string together into a sermon. He allows you to be seated comfortably in a theater, to be absorbed in a problem and to walk out into the night with your thoughts clarified and your lips saying, 'This situation ought to be changed'."<ref>''Los Angeles Times''. (December 14, 1948). p. 14.</ref> After the formal speeches there was a star-studded variety show, including the debut before the Hollywood film world of the team of [[Dean Martin]] and [[Jerry Lewis]].

The movie was an unexpected hit at the box office. According to ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', it earned $3.9&nbsp;million in rentals in the US in 1948.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/variety173-1949-01|title=Variety (January 1949)|date=July 11, 1949|publisher=New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company|accessdate=July 11, 2021|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

[[Leonard Maltin]] said "sincere...then-daring approach to the subject matter is tame now."<ref name="Maltin, Leonard 2005">{{cite book|isbn = 9780452286207 |publisher = Plume |editor1-last= Maltin |editor1-first= Leonard |title = Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide|date = 2005|editor2-first=Spencer|editor2-last= Green|editor3-first= Luke|editor3-last= Sader }}</ref>